


The Marks That Define Us

by Kitsune_Heart



Category: Artemis Fowl - Eoin Colfer
Genre: Blanket Permission, F/M, Podfic Welcome, Sexual Tension, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-21
Updated: 2012-04-21
Packaged: 2017-11-04 01:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/387996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kitsune_Heart/pseuds/Kitsune_Heart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As always seems the case, random events lead to intriguing discoveries between Artemis and Holly. A discussion of personal history, body modification, and lifelong reminders of the things that make us who we are. And, of course, a nice bit of fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Marks That Define Us

Lazy days. It was weird. Thinking that they had those, now. Days to lay back, read (well, that was Artemis, mostly), watch television (Holly, of course), and dress in casual jeans and t-shirts (entirely Holly, unless Angeline was feeling meddlesome) _._ No crises. No death from every direction. Just daily duties, the occasional business meeting, and relaxation.

Though, today, it seemed Holly couldn't relax much. Artemis tried to keep an eye on his computer screen, seeking out that tiny little contract loophole that would allow him to utterly ruin his current business partner. It was proving difficult, as Holly was on the navy-blue fainting couch near his bedroom window, still for a minute or two at a time, them cursing softly and putting a hand on her stomach. Rubbing her stomach. Twitching and putting her fingers under her shirt, and _that_ was something that could not be ignored.

"Stupid...grah...d'arvit!" Holly sat up, lifting her shirt and looking down at whatever she found there. "Oh, great. I knew I shouldn't have put this one in. Artemis, you need to have a little bit of a talk with Juliet about elves."

"Pardon?" Artemis decided that, since she had addressed him, it was entirely acceptable for him to look at her and to admire the beautifully tanned expanse of skin she had exposed. He'd never considered it particularly alluring before, but seeing her bared waist from the side was an entirely enjoyable experience.

"I thought it was silver," Holly muttered, fiddling near her stomach before removing her hands, now holding something in the light, the setting sun sending up a brief flash. "But...yeah... _humans_. Stainless steel. Seriously, why you all have such an obsession with steel and iron, I'll never know, but it makes my life _way_ too difficult."

"Iron is a remarkably versatile metal," Artemis stated evenly. "Surely the People had to use it at one point in their development. I can't imagine a civilization that..." Another flash from Holly's palm distracted him for just a split-second, and he squinted, wishing he could simply telescope his vision. Though it wasn't really necessary, as he suddenly understood and his eyes shot wide again. "H-Holly, do you have a...is that a navel ring?"

Holly tossed the jewelry onto the coffee table before her couch, where it clacked loudly on the glass. She ignored it and went back to rubbing her stomach, wincing. "Unfortunately. You've got some good resources; think you can find someone to recreate that in silver so I don't have an iron reaction next time Juliet visits and I have to wear it?" A faint blue glow came from under her hand, lasting quite a long time for a simple healing. Holly seemed to just melt after a few seconds, the release of the irritation almost as pleasurable as scratching would have been.

"I...it would not be difficult, but I never thought you would have such a thing. I've never...seen it before." He swallowed as Holly turned her head to look at her companion, lips curving up, playful and condescending at the same time.

"I've got to have it out at work," she explained, tugging her green shirt back down (much to Artemis's disappointment). "Else I might get it snagged on something and riiiiiiip." She shuddered, patting her intact stomach. "Mostly fine, having it out for a few hours. But I'd better get something in there, or else my magic might just heal it completely." She hopped off the couch, striding towards Artemis's desk, beside which she had left her wing rigging some hours ago, when she'd arrived at Fowl Manor.

"You...you need a ring?" Artemis shot out, pressing his hands hard on his desk to keep them from shaking as the woman approached him. "I mean...will an earring do?"

Holly paused, halfway bent over her rigging, hands clutching the straps, ready to sweep it onto her back. She looked at Artemis and spoke in a rather impressive monotone. "An earring. Why?"

Artemis caught on to her reaction with commendable swiftness. "During my last business meeting, I left my partner alone with his personal assistant for a few moments, and Butler found this in the couch cushions after." He opened one of the smaller drawers in his desk, easily locating the lost bit of jewelry and holding it out towards Holly, looking more at it than at her. "They both denied losing it—as if I might commonly find stray earrings in my furniture—so I doubt I shall ever need to hand it over. Plain, but it is gold. Gold would be acceptable, correct?"

Holly, being a fairy, had locked her gaze on the earring the second it was revealed, and she didn't need Artemis to tell her its molecular makeup. Like a cat that has just seen a laser pointer dot, her eyes twitched back and forth with each tiny sway. It was quite plain, as Artemis had said. A few tight chains hanging down from a hook, but it was _gold_ and she _wanted_ it.

"I...it..." Holly coughed and forced herself to look away. "It would be fine, yes. I mean, for a bit. So I don't have to fly back."

"Well, then, it is lucky I have such absent-minded and clumsy business partners." Artemis smirked and reached out, pinching the lower hem of Holly's shirt.

She jumped back the second she had caught on to his movement, the fabric tugged upon before he lost his grip, leaving a little tented section that slowly shifted back flat as the threads readjusted. "W-woah! What are you doing?" She held a hand over where Artemis had taken his grip, watching his hand with utmost suspicion.

"Giving you the earring," Artemis said, reasonably, twitching his fingers and making the metal tinkle, which also made Holly's gaze lock back upon it. "It _is_ supposed to go in the piercing, no?"

"Yes," Holly said, reaching out towards her anticipated adornment. "But I can—"

Artemis curled his fingers about the earring and slowly, slowly shook his head, a little grin on his lips. He didn't even need to tsk, but Holly could almost hear it.

She moved her hand to just over her belly-button, feeling the tiny tingle of magic still working its way through, barely held in check. She was full-up, for a change, and keeping the power in, instead of letting it flow naturally, was a lot more of an effort than when she was running low. For a "wound" this small, it would take just a few moments of distraction for the healing to complete, and then she'd either have to get pierced again or give it up. She'd already had to re-pierce several times, due to Fowl adventures and LEP mishaps, and each time it seemed sillier and sillier.

Of course, the pain from a new piercing wasn't really a factor for Holly. It all came down to that twitch in Artemis's lips and the way his eyelids drooped, as if it allowed his gaze upon her to be that much more concentrated. It was how he waited. How her skin felt, even this far away from his touch.

She bit her lower lip and looked to the ceiling, breathing in deeply, puffing her cheeks out on the exhale. Fairies, she thought, were far too innocent a species. The Council gave her the cushiest topside Recon job, thinking it would keep their troublesome lady-captain from bringing utter chaos to the Lower Elements, and suddenly she found herself in a far more dangerous position than any that Opal Koboi had thrown her into. If they _ever_ figured out what she did in her time off...

Captain Short lifted the hem of her shirt herself. Just as much as was absolutely necessary. Then she took a step towards Artemis, waiting, leg muscles tensed, the tightening extending even to her stomach, giving Artemis an up-close look at the nearly perfect muscle definition.

She heard him hum, very softly, and then one of Artemis's hands was on Holly's waist, curved to her form, the thumb pressing gently next to her navel. Holding her in place. Or perhaps that was his excuse, since Holly could have kept perfectly still while he completed his task, and even now she could break free of his grip.

Of course, she didn't. She held very, very still as Artemis took altogether longer than necessary. It must have been an experiment to him, because Holly felt a bit of the earring press to her flesh, just to the side of her navel, and the fairy affinity to the metal made her relax. Which, of course, made her blush. He would be looking that up later, no doubt, and he'd probably find that all the best fairy "marital aids" came gilded.

When the hook of the earring touched Holly's sore piercing, her abdominal muscles twitched, though this was the only betrayal from her body. Still, Artemis let out a little "shhhh," and he moved even slower. Finding the proper placement of the hook end, he slid it in. The very tip. And then one long, long moment as the wire made its way through the other side, an odd shiver going up Holly's spine, ending in a little throb that filled her entire body as the curve went into place and the job was done. When Artemis finally let the gold tidbit go, the chain ends brushing Holly's skin a centimeter shy of her jeans, the fairy relaxed and let her magic flow, a little blue glow suffusing her stomach. Holly looked down just in time to see the light in Artemis's steady eyes, still locked on her navel. Hand still on her waist.

The gold tingled in a manner much different from the irritant of her earlier piercing. Almost a tickle, which spread out from her center, diminishing until it was just an echo a few inches below the source, but still _so_ maddening.

Holly came to herself with a start, stepping back, Artemis's hand following her for one of those steps before being forced to give up, falling to rest loosely between the man's legs. "T-thanks. Good as new."

"'As new' would be non-pierced, technically," Artemis said, finally taking his eyes off Holly's stomach, refocusing them to the elf's face (and maybe hesitating a bit along the way). "I always assumed fairies did not do body modification. Or that it is highly frowned-upon, as I'd seen some tattooed goblins in the Arctic, but no other markings."

"I don't know...not really?" Holly tilted her head to the side, wishing she'd minored in cultural studies in college, instead of magic. It would have been far more useful in this moment; Artemis never spoke down to her anymore, but that had the unwanted side-effect of forcing her to use all of her brain power to keep up with his mental whims. "I mean, I didn't get this until I moved out from my mom's place, but the only comment I got about it in the LEP was a warning to keep it out when on duty." She paused, considering. "And some comments from Chix, but he can turn a new pair of shoelaces into innuendo."

Artemis scowled at the latter revelation, but only briefly. "Despite your frequent...clashes with authority in the LEP, I never considered you knowingly, with plenty of time to think, doing something with which the LEP would disagree."

"Well, not like it mattered," Holly said with a shrug. "Not after all the others."

Artemis paused. His eyes darted to Holly's ears, then her nose and lips, and he scowled. "Others? I see no other holes, and have never noticed any scars from old piercings."

"No, no." Holly flapped her hand in the air. "I meant the tattoos."

Artemis sat up straight, again giving Holly a visual once-over, and, very obviously, finishing flabbergasted. "You have...had them removed?"

"Course not!" Holly laughed. "Like you said: it takes a bit of thinking for something like that. Well...except the first time." She shook her head at a much younger self. College...

"May I...see them?" Artemis ventured. When Holly looked at him, a brow raised, he put up his hands. "I merely mean that I am curious as to what you would find significant enough to place an indelible mark upon yourself."

"Oh?" Holly smirked. "You sure this isn't about failing to notice them when I was wearing the one-piece?"

Artemis could find no response to that, other than looking impassively at the elf, awaiting her decision.

"Hmmm...iiiiiiif...you sit _right_ _there_ ," Holly added emphasis to her words by jabbing her index finger at Artemis's chair. "If you _promise_ to stay...I'll show a few."

He was back to focusing on her, a brow raised. "A few? How many, pray tell, do you have?"

" _Promise_ me, Artemis."

He hesitated a few seconds. Then, slowly, as if hoping she'd get impatient and just begin without his having to go through with it, said, "Yes. I promise to stay where I am."

"Hmmm..." Holly took a moment to think about which of her marks she would prefer to show off first. When she decided, it was all she could do to keep in some rather evil laughter. Watching her friend, wishing she could record his coming reaction, she hooked her fingers in the left side of the waist of her jeans, pulling down. Not too far down, but enough for Artemis to perk up and for the elf to feel a hotness in her face. "This here," she said, making a circle around the mark with her thumb, "was right after my school team won the Crunchball league."

It was hard to tell if Artemis was so much looking at the tattoo as looking at this unfamiliar skin. If he was, he saw a trio of balls—red, yellow, and green; large, medium, and small—with numbers just off to the side, being the number of goals Holly had made that season, as well as the year in Gnommish reckoning. It was a small tattoo—about the size of a daisy head—and rather poorly done.

"That...actually...seems somewhat frivolous, to me," Artemis said, eyes very briefly darting up to Holly's, then returning to the ink. "Not that I don't believe sports to be important to you. Merely—"

"I was wasted," Holly broke in, pulling her pants back up, almost feeling bad when Artemis looked up at her with his deep blue eyes. She nearly considered exposing herself again, but just put her hands on her waist. "It was _right_ after the game. I'd never really drunk before, and one of the party-goers brought his equipment. I can't even remember getting it done." She shuddered a bit. "I _can_ remember when my mother found out, though. _That_ one, she really flipped over. I already had the navel and tongue piercing, but those I could take out. A bit harder with a tat."

"Tongue," Artemis said, apparently having missed the other 99% of his friend's words. "You have a tongue piercing?"

" _Had_ ," Holly corrected, sticking out the item getting such focus and waggling it. "Didn't keep it long into the Academy. You could have one in during free time, but there was no defined 'free time,' so long as we got a certain number of open hours in a day. Like the military for you humans, you know? They could barge in during the middle of the night and wake you up and, taa-daa, you were on duty."

"So you decided to remove it?" Artemis almost whined.

"Actually...I swallowed it." Holly rubbed a hand on the back of her neck, face twisting at the memory. "Vinyáya came in one night, screaming for us to get up, and I was trying to get it out when she snuck up behind me and screamed so loud I lost my grip. I think she was disappointed that she didn't get to yell about it anymore after that." Holly looked a little lost at those words.

Artemis gave her some time to think, but he knew he could not let her just go over the events in the Arctic for too long. "Body modification is commonly used to commemorate those who have left this world. Perhaps one for the Wing Commander would be appropriate...?"

"No," Holly shook her head. "She really disliked tattoos. She barely forgave me when I got..." Holly looked at her feet.

Before Artemis could think this was a reaction born of shame, she was leaning over, untying her shoes.

"Holly?" Artemis asked, thrown.

"Here," she said, kicking off her right shoe and yanking the sock away, turning her back to Artemis and standing on her one shod foot. The other she held up and back, gripping her ankle and showing him the bottom of her foot. "For the Commander," she said.

Written there, in Gnommish, was the word "Julius."

He studied it briefly and ventured, "So you may...walk in his footsteps?"

Holly paused. Then snorted out a laugh, letting her foot go, though not placing it on the ground. "No!" The captain shifted her weight, kicking high in the air, legs at an angle that Artemis would have sworn was both impossible and the most painful thing ever, if not for having watched Butler fight so often. The officer continued to exhibit amazing form, pulling her leg back in slowly, never so much as wobbling as she put both feet to the floor. "It's so the Commander can still kick some ass!"

Artemis let out a single huff of laughter and nodded. "Ah. I do believe he'd approve."

Holly bent over to remove her other shoe and sock. "Yeah. He only had one tattoo—memorial for a colleague of his, left bicep—but he certainly didn't have a problem with me getting them, so long as I could hide them on duty. He suggested this design." She tilted her foot towards Artemis, showing off a very thick black and white chain about her ankle. "Mostly a joke, though."

The human tilted his head, then looked through a thin fringe of black hair and into Holly's smiling face. It was the closest he would come to admitting a lack of understanding.

"Whenever I got in trouble, he threatened to chain me to a desk," Holly said. "I thought I'd keep it there as a warning to myself."

"Did it do any good?"

She snorted. "Gods, no."

"I guessed as much." Artemis let his eyes drift between the four bits of Holly's body which were now so new and interesting. They rested, once more, on the chain, and he scowled. "I do not recall seeing that when Nº1 sent us back in time."

"I didn't imagine you spent much time looking at my _feet_ ," Holly said with a little smirk. When Artemis got a little pink tinge to his cheeks, she couldn't help but continue. "I mean, unless you're into that. Are you?"

Artemis was now a bright red shade, and he looked to be not too far off from calling the entire discovery session off.

Which Holly just could not let happen. It was...oddly pleasant. Both seeing his reactions and indulging in her memories, painful as some of those may have been. She went on, hooking her fingers in the other side of her jeans to pull them down again. And much, much more than before. She had half of her jeans down to her upper thigh before she stopped. "Got the last laugh, though," she said, voice a bit deeper than she'd intended. She moved so her exposed hip was even closer to Artemis; almost within touching distance. "I made sure I was always armed."

Eyes widening and locked in place, Artemis swallowed down a sudden surge of saliva.

There, right where her hand would rest during a tense standoff, waiting for the little signal that would make her act on complete instinct, doing her duty to the People in the manner that she knew best, was a full-color tattoo of a Neutrino that was so realistic that it seemed actually three dimensional. And, in fact, it seemed to...glow.

"Phosphorescent ink?" Artemis said, once he could remember how tongues worked.

Holly tilted her head, and seemed to understand in the middle of the motion. "Oh. Yeah. It's kind of fun. Put a light to it and then turn all the lights off, and the readouts glow. Lasts a good hour. I've got to put a bandage over this one for Section 8 missions, to make sure it doesn't give me away in case I...er...end up without a suit."

"Is that...common?"

Holly rolled her eyes, pulling her pants up once more. When she shifted her feet again, she was a few inches closer to her companion. It was almost negligible, and certainly so slight a change that an observer could not be certain if it was an accident or not. "Never happened to me, but Vinyáya insisted that it happened to her. Twice. Personally, though, I think that was less a case of necessity and more her just being a bit insane."

"And you're _sure_ she wouldn't like a commemorative tattoo, then? Not even, say, a honey badger or the like?"

"Hmmm...I wish I could, but she was _really_ against it. She saw Mom's tattoo, once, and I thought she was going to lose it."

Artemis blinked. "Your mother had a tattoo? But you said she disapproved of yours."

"Oh, no. I mean...the one I got _for_ my mother." Holly hesitated. Somehow, this one mark seemed...different from the previous few. Even the Commander's tattoo seemed like something she should share; Artemis had known and been—if a bit begrudgingly—liked by the man. Though she had mentioned her mother to Artemis before, Coral was somehow...far more _hers_ than anyone else, and the mark was likewise sacred.

But he sat there so patiently, never once demanding to see the next inking, and taking them all in with such interest—even if half of that interest was due to the woman's exposure—that the flash of reluctance was soon fading. Half on a whim, still, Holly brought a hand up to the collar of her v-neck shirt, pulling it even further down, exposing the roundness of her breasts and a strange shape between, done in pink, outlined thinly in black. Vaguely organic in form, and yet somehow alien.

It took Artemis a bit of time to switch his focus to the tattoo, instead of the obvious alternatives, but not altogether too much time. He pursed his lips, considering the decoration, and finally nodded. "Hmmm... _Stylophora_ _pistillata_?" He managed to look Holly in the eye at this, despite the wonders before him.

Holly put on a completely false frown. "Do you really expect me to be impressed, at this point, Fowl?"

The young man pouted. "Well, _I_ am impressed."

Holly couldn't say, 100%, what he meant, but she let her shirt go, though the stretching it had just received didn't immediately fix itself, leaving the collar somewhat abused "I...I got it so she—"

"Would be close to your heart," Artemis said, nodding.

Holly got out half a smile, holding her hands behind her back. "Seems...a bit sappy, now that I think about it."

"I'd have to disagree," Artemis said. "At least so long as you got that mark by repeatedly letting someone stab you with a needle. The term is...'hardcore,' I believe."

He always knew the exact words to make her smile, though this time it was a bit closer to a smirk. She rubbed through her shirt at the tattoo, letting her mind dwell there. It was shocking how quickly you could forget that something like that was a part of your body. She forgot the Julius tattoo for weeks at a time, never really seeing the symbols. Then she'd be reminded of them by a random glance or by thinking of what had inspired her, and she was again floored by the idea that something could be so important that she would undertake not only pain, but a lifetime with that reminder. The Crunchball tattoo was the only mark she'd taken on with less than a month's deep thought. Even her most frivolous mark—the shackle about her ankle—had come only after intense debate. She had worried that it would become a reminder that she _was_ stuck on desk, instead of a warning to do her duty, and that, more than just about anything else, was what had driven her to work hard and keep herself out of the office and among the People.

"Have you ever thought of getting one?" Holly suddenly asked Artemis, designs flitting through her mind.

He blinked, then looked towards the ceiling, obviously giving it some thought. "I'd always considered tattoos...somewhat lower-class."

"Lower class!" Holly barked, hands going to her hips. "Really. Do tell. Maybe I can convey that to Butler."

"I did not mean..." Artemis sighed, recognizing a partial defeat. "Butler's blue diamond has a meaning, as do your tattoos. But are you familiar with the modern tribal tattoo?" At Holly's confused nod, Artemis began twirling his index fingers in the air, creating symmetrical designs in the aether. "A very common style, in the last decade or so. Mostly black and white, swirls and some points, and worn, nearly exclusively, by Caucasian fraternity boys. What was once a major ceremony, with men receiving designs to mark important events in their lives, the designs completely determined by their cultural traditions, has been turned into something one does while drunk and in the mood to show how," he transformed the air design to double-quotes with his fingers, "'badass' they are. Most of these designs don't even mean anything, either in the cultures from whence they supposedly originated, or to the tattoo wearers themselves. They're practically random."

"So that's a...no, then?" Holly ventured, making a mental note to look into human tattoo designs. It seemed remarkably complicated, compared to the People's practices. Each fairy species was so small that there weren't many sub-groups, and, thus, not a huge need for differentiation between them.

"Correct," Artemis replied. Then his lips—already so prone to a superior smirk—lifted a bit more, displaying his teeth and making Holly consider stepping back once more. "If anything, I'd have to consider a tongue piercing. Very utilitarian."

Holly could almost feel the dilation of her pupils and the stiffening of the hairs along the back of her neck. She stared at Artemis's lips, his mouth, and wondered, suddenly, how she was still standing.

"Of course," Artemis went on, shaking his head, "it would make talking difficult."

"You...get used to it," she reassured, though it came out a lot quieter than she would have liked.

"Perhaps. It might be worthwhile, with the...right incentive." Artemis, once more, let his gaze shift between Holly's tattoos and her navel. There were rather pronounced pauses at the ring and the coral design, and then he was looking her in the eyes, boring deep into her. "So...any last works of art to show me?"

Instantly, Holly's face went red and she leaned away. "I-I—"

"My, my, that is a rather loud 'yes,' Holly." Artemis didn't get out of his chair, but he did negate her leaning by rolling it an inch or two forward, their knees now not too distant. "Do not stop now. You have me intrigued, and building up my curiosity in this manner is most cruel."

"It...I mean..."

"Show me," Artemis said, voice deep, unmistakeably commanding, and Holly found herself complying despite anger at his presumptions.

Her hands fell to the waist of her jeans. Toyed with the button for just a moment before it popped free and she could grasp the zipper. Here, she exerted what control she had—no _mesmer_ on his end, to be sure, but that didn't mean she could escape him easily—and went slowly. Each freed tooth clicked, forcing Artemis's attention down to the interlocking metal and the skin that was being so gradually exposed. She swore she heard him gasp as black cotton came into view, and Holly was sure that any small touch from him would produce the same result in her.

She pushed the clothing down. Not all the way, but several inches, and done very carefully, so the least amount of skin would be exposed. What skin was revealed was a bit lighter than the rest of her body, seeing less light—even if artificial—than the rest of her. And smooth. So very smooth, and each millimeter made Artemis's eyes widen in disbelief, waiting for a bit of red hair between the dips made by the joints between legs and hip.

He did see red. And green. And pink and blue and orange, all in a tight spiral, a simple weave, a rough circle, small bumps on the perimeter of the design where each rope ended, a white stick coming out of the bottom, disappearing beyond Holly's clothes.

Artemis swallowed, eyes briefly darting up, taking in Holly's unreadable gaze, and then falling again to what could only be called a "treat." "Well...I...do believe you owe me one, from after the siege..." He sounded fantastically casual, but was betrayed by a real hunger in his eyes.

Holly put a hand to the side of the design, barely restraining the urge to cover the lollipop tattoo. "No," she whispered, feeling like she was entirely out of breath. "That was if you were good."

Artemis scowled.

Then he reached out, slow, and hooked a finger in one of Holly's belt loops, pulling just enough to bring the woman forward, a half-step at a time, until she stood between his slightly parted legs, her thighs brushing against the padding of his office chair. It was an almost entirely smooth movement, but there was just enough of a jostle to make the earring in her navel sway and tickle her skin, Holly's stomach twitching in response.

She looked up at the man, and she could feel little bumps rising on the skin under her hands, though she had no clue why they were there now. Artemis might have once been a cold child, but he had grown into an entirely different creature. One of unquenchable fires and words that could ignite with shocking ease.

Somehow, he could could keep an entirely straight face as he looked down on her. He leaned over until his hair brushed her head and his lips came to rest right next to Holly's ear, words not so much said as allowed to escape his lips. "I...can be good, Holly..."

Holly swallowed, letting a finger trace the shape of her newest tattoo, the skin still half-raw and so deliciously sensitive. "I...have yet to see you _be_ good..."

Artemis merely chuckled, his hand joining Holly's in exploring his very, very special treat.


End file.
